Description
MarkuClean Markup Cleaner cleans and normalizes post content in supported WordPress editing contexts.
It removes unwanted characters, markup artifacts, and copy-and-paste leftovers from post title, content, and excerpt values. This includes known special characters and malformed sequences commonly introduced by AI-generated content and external copy tools, such as mis-encoded quotes, dashes, ellipses, non-breaking spaces, zero-width characters, and numeric data-start/data-end markers.
The plugin helps keep content consistent and clean where cleanup is supported. It works with standard WordPress content edited in Gutenberg and TinyMCE-based workflows.
For safety, builder-managed content is skipped. Elementor, WPBakery / Visual Composer, Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, Oxygen, Bricks, SiteOrigin, and similar editors often store structured markup, shortcode trees, JSON-like payloads, or hidden metadata. The plugin returns that content unchanged.
Screenshots
Installation
Install from WordPress admin:
- Go to Plugins > Add New.
- Search for “MarkuClean Markup Cleaner”.
- Install and activate the plugin.
Manual installation:
- Upload the plugin folder to
/wp-content/plugins/. - Activate the plugin in WordPress admin.
- Open Settings > AI Content Cleaner and configure the enabled post types and cleanup modes.
FAQ
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Why does the plugin not work with Elementor or other builders?
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This is intentional. Builders store structured markup, shortcodes, JSON-like payloads, and metadata that the plugin does not modify.
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What characters does the plugin remove or normalize?
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It can normalize configured character replacements such as mis-encoded quotes, dashes, ellipses, non-breaking spaces, zero-width characters, and similar copy artifacts. It also removes numeric data-start/data-end markers and selected AI paste remnants where supported.
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Does it change existing content permanently?
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Only when save cleanup is enabled and the current content passes the safety checks. Frontend cleanup and tester previews do not change stored content.
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Can I limit it to specific post types?
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Yes. Enabled post types are configured in the plugin settings and are enforced across supported frontend, editor, and save-time flows.
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What is the difference between display cleanup and save cleanup?
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Display cleanup changes frontend output only and does not write to the database. Save cleanup modifies stored content when it is enabled and the current content passes the safety checks.
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Is it safe to use on live websites?
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It is designed to skip unsupported contexts and builder-managed content. Use the tester first and review save cleanup settings before applying cleanup to existing content.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“MarkuClean – AI Markup Cleaner” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.2
- Fix: prevent fatal errors with legacy WPBakery / Visual Composer on PHP 8.3
- Fix: harden all WordPress hook callbacks against unexpected input types
- Fix: ensure wp_insert_post_data callbacks are safe under legacy conditions
- Improvement: extend legacy WPBakery / Visual Composer detection
- Improvement: increase overall runtime compatibility with older plugins and themes
1.0.1
- Fix: Save cleanup is now truly opt-in, no stored content is modified when disabled
- Fix: Removed hardcoded “ChatGPT” text removal from sanitizer
- Improvement: DOM cleanup now triggers only on structural AI/UI markers, not keywords
- Fix: Prevent unintended content mutation in supported editors (Gutenberg, Classic)
- Fix: Sidebar preview default value is now consistent across settings, UI, and runtime
- Fix: Regex/replacement fields now preserve valid patterns (<, >, etc.)
- Fix: PHP version requirement comment aligned with actual minimum version
- Improvement: Updated admin UI examples to avoid misleading cleanup rules
- Improvement: Increased overall sanitizer safety and reduced false-positive cleaning
1.0.0
- Initial release.